North East Fitness App Beats Millions of Others for Prestigious Accolade

Gym training startup, Fit Gurus, was launched in 2014 by co-founders Paul Slater and Dave Stidolph who were later joined by Mark Hemmings. Since then the team has worked with Newcastle based Nebula Labs to develop the Gym Plan app. The app acts as the user’s very own digital personal trainer, providing exercise plans and instructional videos.

Since radically overhauling Gym Plan in 2018, the app has gained more than 320,000 downloads.

Users can modify their personal workout plans, so the app can adapt to the user’s changing health context. There is also a one to one messenger facility with a real life personal trainer who can help give advice on exercise plans, and nutrition.

It was among the first apps to support the new Siri Shortcuts module of iOS 12. With a strong emphasis on creating a highly personal experience for each user, there is now the ability to record voice commands, so – without even opening the app – a user can ask Siri to tell them what their workout is for that day.

Apple choose two apps per day to feature on its app store, judging criteria such as functionality, user experience and reviews. While many bigger companies’ apps are often featured it’s a huge boost to any smaller businesses and developers to be chosen.

Paul Slater, co-founder of Gym Plan said, “We were absolutely delighted to have the app featured, we’re only a tiny company based in the north east but with Nebula Labs support we’ve been able to create a mobile health and fitness app that is comparable in virtually all metrics to large scale fitness apps. It’s a huge boost and recognition of the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.”

Dylan McKee, co-founder of Nebula Labs, said, “Having Gym Plan chosen by Apple is super exciting. We’re delighted to have been working with Paul and the team since the beginning, and know the massive amount work they’ve put in. Being able to develop a product from its inception as a vision, to an overwhelmingly successful app used by thousands of clients in hundreds of countries, of all ages from 18-80 is hugely satisfying. It shows that if there is the ambition amongst tech startups to skew towards innovation in digital products and services, then it is possible to take advantage of the latest technologies and produce cutting edge, high quality software such as the Gym Plan app.”